But now a German company called PaperC is trying something new. It’s running with the idea of try-before-you-buy textbooks and taking it further by offering users not just the chance to buy a whole book, but also a particular chapter or even just a page.

Soon it plans to add a monthly subscription option that gives unlimited access.

The idea of buying a single page may sound odd, but it makes a lot of sense in the context of textbooks, where readers often don’t need the whole manuscript. And PaperC’s approach to free previews is similarly sensible: where Amazon shows you the opening chapter or two, this startup lets its users choose which 10 percent of the book they’d like to see without paying (they have a time limit on how long they can look).

PaperC has a search engine and a web reader that allows annotations and sharing, and has partnered with Sony on optimizing its tablet experience. Most importantly, the Leipzig-based firm already has 120,000 registered users and around 100 content deals with publishers like O’Reilly, Pearson, Wiley and others.

“PaperC is not only a bookstore but a library, offering its users a full suite of tools to facilitate their research,” international content manager Bill Glucroft told me, adding that while PaperC’s market so far is in German-speaking countries and eastern Europe, more than half the service’s content is in English.

All sounds fine so far, but here’s an extra twist: the company’s looking for more funding, which it hopes to obtain through an auction-based crowdfunding platform called Innovestment that’s quite interesting in itself.

Here’s the pitch (in German with English subtitles):

PaperC hopes to raise between €50,000 – €100,000 ($61,000 – $123,000). With the campaign already underway for a week, it has already amassed almost €16,000 through the sale of 14 silent shares – with each share representing 0.04 percent equity, the auction currently has the company’s total valuation at €2.6 million.

But hold up. Investors won’t be getting a share of the existing PaperC.de platform, which is based on PDF technology. They’ll be buying into PaperC.com, its HTML5-based successor (shades of Inkling). This is a bet on future value, rather than a chance to get a chunk of what already exists.

“We need additional resources to continue acquiring high-quality content from major, international publishers,” Glucroft said. “Moreover, we want our from-scratch-built HTML5 platform to be the best platform out there for buying, reading and working with academic eBooks. That means giving it the same set of interactive and study-friendly features that our PDF-based platform at PaperC.de already has, and having the ability to convert PDFs of our choosing to ePub, so they can be compatible with PaperC.com.”

PaperC is also working on raising its profile with U.S. and Canadian universities, he added.

The company fits into two notable strands of the Berlin scene: the e-reading bunch, as typified by Readmill and Txtr, and the academia-facing likes of ResearchGate.

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Remarks, like PDF Expert, offers PDF annotation and filling tools, but it’s a much more streamlined tool than that app, with a focus on making it easy to mark up and share documents, as well as create your own notes and notebooks independent of any pre-existing PDFs that can also be marked up and shared with other Remarks users for collaborative work.

Remarks is that rare beast among PDF tools, either on or off the iPad: it features a simple, straightforward interface and everything work very quickly, with speedy response times for turning pages, adding notes, and basically anything else you’d want to do. Tools, including pens, highlighters, preset shapes and text entry, are clearly labeled with simple icons, and there’s no visual clutter or wealth of unnecessary options to distract you from what you actually need to get done.

Sharing may be one of Remarks’ best feature. Using email, you can easily share documents with other Remarks users, including annotated PDFs and notes created in the app itself. But in an upcoming update, Readdle is planning to introduce Dropbox, Box.net and other cloud storage sharing options, too, making it even more convenient for doing collaborative work.

Paired with a Bluetooth keyboard or stylus, Remarks is even more useful. It features effective accidental touch or wrist-detection, meaning you can write naturally with a stylus without worrying about drawing in the wrong place, and regular Mac key shortcuts like Command+C, Command+V and Command+A work with keyboard text input.

Remarks allows flexibility in creating notes and notebooks, allowing you to rearrange pages as you add them or after the fact, but it doesn’t overwhelm with options like other iPad notebook offerings. And since it’s also a full-fledged PDF annotation tool, and one that can be used collaboratively, it’s probably one of the most versatile iPad apps for students, and a fairly inexpensive one at $4.99.

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The update includes some iPad-only goodies that take advantage of the device’s larger screen, as well as some general changes for all versions that replicate and one-up features found in Apple’s own iBooks, making it a much better all-around solution for users who’d rather just have one e-reading app on their devices. Here’s a breakdown of what’s new:

All devices

Kindle Personal Documents Service. Both iPhone and iPad users can now take advantage of Amazon’s Kindle Personal Document Service, which lets users email their own documents to special Send-to-Kindle email addresses assigned to each Amazon Kindle user account. The document will then show up in their iPad, iPhone or iPod touch Kindle app library, and be available for re-download across devices. Note that this does incur a fee, and requires a few initial steps to get set up. You can check out Amazon’s full guide to its Personal Document Service here for more info.

PDF Reader. Kindle apps for iOS now feature a built-in PDF reader that can open files from Mail or Safari, or PDFs transferred directly from a user’s computer via iTunes. The PDF feature also works with documents transferred using the newly-integrated Personal Documents Service mentioned above. This was the main (if not the only) advantage of iBooks over the Kindle app in my opinion, so now that it’s gone I’ll probably just use the Amazon app full-time.

iPad-only

New magazine design. Amazon is clearly trying to stay on top of the competition from Newsstand here, and in fact, its magazines now work with Newsstand. Amazon’s Kindle newspaper and magazine library now extends to the over 400 titles available on the Kindle Fire.

Print replica textbooks. Those still in school will benefit greatly from this feature, which makes thousands of print replica textbooks available on the iPad via the Kindle app. Textbook rentals are also available, and the print replica formatting means that it’ll be even easier for students to follow along in class with page and section numbering while also enjoying the advantages of a digital edition (searching, linked content, etc.)

This is a big, solid update from a company that’s currently nursing its own competitive tablet platform, and I must say I’m pretty impressed. What do you think of the new Kindle apps?

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U.S. Senator Al Franken

Updated: Though most U.S. operators use Carrier IQ’s handset monitoring software in some form, they’re not all using it to the same degree, according to the answers AT&T, Sprint, HTC and Samsung submitted to U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) in response to his detailed questionnaire about their relationship to with the controversial company. Sprint, it turns out, is one of Carrier IQ’s biggest fans. It has embedded its IQ Agent into half the devices on its network, from smartphones to mobile data modems, and has been working with Carrier IQ since its inception in 2006, according to its responses released by Franken on Thursday (PDF).

Meanwhile, AT&T’s use of IQ Agent is far more limited. It resides in 900,000 of its devices and it only began ordering its handset vendors to embed the software handsets and modems in March. AT&T also confirmed that the software is in RIM’s devices, despite that company’s denials of any involvement with Carrier IQ. But in the case of all BlackBerry and many Android phones, IQ agent is present because customers downloaded it as part of AT&T’s Mark The Spot application, a network health reporting tool all customers opt into.

In its letter to Franken (PDF), AT&T said it only collected anonymous generalized technical metrics on network, device and application performance and stability. Sprint, however, appears to delve a little deeper, tracking URLs visited and the location of specific devices in order to troubleshoot specific device problems. Sprint pointed out that this information is already ready available to Sprint through the network.

It also turns out we were right about the operators surreptitiously recruiting phones into virtual focus groups to analyze specific network or device problems. Both AT&T and Sprint admitted to using Carrier IQ’s analytics platform to set up different ‘profiles’ on different devices. Those profiles could be used, for instance, to order a certain batch of phones to track call-drop problems in a particular neighborhood, or commanding a particular class of smartphones to test signaling patterns on a particular application. Sprint said only 1.3 million of the 26 million IQ Agent-enabled devices are active at any given time, and within that pool, it has multiple profile subgroups, each testing a different problem. Both operators, however, said they used that data only for network diagnostic purposes, and not to do market research on their customers.

Update: Sprint has disabled IQ Agent in its phones, according to an email statement the operator gave to Mobile Burn. Only disabling the software, however, may still leave security holes. According to an analysis by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Carrier IQ can still record actions in the device even if it doesn’t send that data to Carrier IQ’s servers or the operator. Since those actions are recorded in the system logs of smartphone platforms like Android, other applications may still have access to critical user information.

HTC and Samsungs’ answers were pretty much long streams of references to their operator customers. Samsung said it started embedding IQ Agent in 2007 at the behest of U.S. operators and has since shipped 25 million phones to those operators with the Carrier IQ software installed. In its letter (PDF), Samsung also outed customer Leap Wireless in the process, saying the regional operator ordered it to install IQ Agent on four of its phones sold under the Cricket brand.

HTC’s letter (PDF) said it was investigating recent reports that the keystroke logging software Carrier IQ whistleblower Trevor Eckhart first exposed was actually a factory debug program, and not Carrier IQ’s application. Franken also sent questionnaires to T-Mobile and Motorola, which both have until Tuesday to respond.

In a statement, Franken said while he appreciated the detailed response,s he didn’t think they fully absolved the carriers, handset makers and Carrier IQ. Franken said he was particularly concerned about Carrier IQ’s recent revelation it had inadvertently captured SMS messages in its report data sending their contents back to its servers. An excerpt from Franken’s statement:

People have a fundamental right to control their private information. After reading the companies’ responses, I’m still concerned that this right is not being respected. The average user of any device equipped with Carrier IQ software has no way of knowing that this software is running, what information it is getting, and who it is giving it to—and that’s a problem.  It appears that Carrier IQ has been receiving the contents of a number of text messages—even though they had told the public that they did not.  I’m also bothered by the software’s ability to capture the contents of our online searches—even when users wish to encrypt them.  So there are still many questions to be answered here and things that need to be fixed.

Sprint said the Carrier IQ software is installed on phones and modems made by Audition, Franklin, HTC, Huawei, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, Novatel, Palmone, Samsung, Sanyo and Sierra Wireless. AT&T said the embedded version of CIQ is installed in the Pantech Pursuit II, Breeze 3, P5000, and Pocket; the Sierra Wireless Shockwave; LG Thrill; ZTE Avail and Z331; the Sony Ericsson Experian Play; and Motorola Atrix and Bravo.

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Using fillable forms

With certain PDF files known as fillable forms, you can enter information and either save or print your changes. You can’t create fillable forms in Preview (you need Adobe Acrobat Pro or Smile’s PDFpenPro to do that), but you can fill out someone else’s PDF form, like any of the forms and publications from the IRS. Simply open the file, click on one of the fillable form fields, and enter your information. Once you’ve filled out the form in full, go to File > Save or File > Save As… to save the info you added or create a filled duplicate of the original form with a different file name.

Making annotations

When reviewing a document, I like to take notes directly in the document. This is particularly useful when interviewing job candidates, for instance. Using Preview, you can highlight, underline and strike through text; add notes and text boxes; and even some draw some limited graphics like lines, boxes, circles and arrows in PDF documents. To access the annotation toolbar in Preview, click on the Annotate button in Preview’s toolbar. In Snow Leopard, the annotation toolbar will appear at the bottom of the window. In Lion, a redesigned annotation toolbar will appear at the top.

Managing signatures

A new feature in OS X Lion’s version of Preview is the ability to manage signatures. This is great if you don’t have a scanner or fax machine handy. You can even create and manage a collection of various signatures. Create a new signature in Preview by following these steps:

1. Open a PDF in Preview and click on the Annotations toolbar button.
2. Click on the Signature button on the Annotation toolbar and select “Create Signature from Built-in iSight…”
3. Hold up a signed piece of paper to the camera and align it with the blue line.
4. Click “Accept” to add it to your library of signatures.
5. Add it to your PDF document from the Annotation toolbar the same way you would an arrow, text box or note.

Creating a duplicate

Since you’re technically editing the PDF file when adding annotations, saving a copy of the original as a new file might make sense. But if you’re using Lion, you can simply create a copy of the document by selecting “Duplicate” from Preview’s File menu. This is a lot easier than finding the document in the Finder, creating and renaming the file before opening, or even using the “Save As…” command.  If you have already made changes to the document before you duplicate, you will be presented with an option to revert your changes in the original, and create a duplicate copy that has all of your changes intact.

Any other tips for using Preview with PDF files? Share them in the comments.

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The Visioneer Mobility is a sheet-fed scanner that runs on battery power and recharges via USB. The scans are stored on an SD card, and can be transferred to the iPad using the Camera Connection kit or via a Eye-Fi card and iOS companion application. Each charge scans about 300 pages either in color .jpg or your choice of color or black and white PDF. Business cards, documents and pictures all scan easily. Occasionally, a document would get stuck, but the device has a release lever to prevent damage, a slick feature lacking in most sheet-fed scanners.

The device retails for $199 and includes the scanner, a carrying case, charger, and a 2 GB SD card. Although it only ships with OCR solutions for Windows, third-party Mac software such as PDFpenpro by Smile easily converted the files to an editable format. It’s a bit larger and heavier than the other scanners I reviewed in my earlier post, but that’s understandable given that this also packs a hefty battery.

With a few months of use, I’ve really fallen in love with this scanner, and enjoy how much closer it allows me to come to a truly post-PC mobile computing experience. With more and more people replacing their traditional laptops with Android and iOS devices, as well as ultra-light laptops like the Macbook Air, expect to see the Mobility and other similar devices become even better and more numerous.

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There isn’t a specific timeline for when the update will be released, but when it does arrive, it’ll also shut down the ability to jailbreak iOS devices using the most recent JailbreakMe browser-based method. The jailbreak takes advantage of the same exploit which poses a potential security threat and involves the way in which Safari and Mail manage PDF file downloads.

Apple will likely be quick with an update, considering the nature of the German IT agency’s warning. The organization called the flaw a “critical weakness,” and one which is “sufficient to infect the mobile device with malware without the user’s knowledge.” It affects users running iOS 4.3.3, and possibly older versions as well, according to the German agency.

While users await a software update to patch the hole, the best way to avoid any potential security threats is to avoid downloading PDF files from any untrusted sources, either via email or mobile Safari. As mobile web access becomes more popular, it’s generally a good idea for users to practice the same kind of safe browsing that helps avoid malicious attacks on desktop computers as well, part of which means not downloading content when its origin is at all suspect or hazy.

A similar flaw was discovered in August 2010 that also allowed for web-based jailbreak, and also caught the attention of the German government. Apple took about a week to issue an iOS update to patch the problem at that time, so it’s reasonable to expect a similar timeline for release with a 4.3.4 update.

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Crocodoc is replacing its Flash-based viewer with an HTML5 version, which Crocodoc claims is a first. The company claims that the new viewer is significantly faster, and renders documents more accurately than Flash-based solutions. Here’s a sample of a formatted document.

Despite the “viewer” name, embedded documents can be not only viewed, but they can be marked up and forms can be filled in. Marked-up documents can then be downloaded in PDF format. The markup tools don’t allow for full document editing, but they’re probably more than sufficient for many teams’ needs.

Crocodoc’s API is also being updated, which allows users to create embeddable HTML5 document viewers that can be customized in both appearance and behavior. The company is also starting a partnership program that will allow other companies to license its technologies. Since many project management systems include components for marking up documents, Yammer, an enterprise social networking app, will be rolling out Crocodoc’s document tools in the next few days.

Mobile apps are also in development, with an iPad app coming shortly, followed by similar apps for iOS and Android.

Crocodoc is free for individuals, and the API is also free for non-commercial use. Pricing for commercial use of the API is priced based on the number of documents uploaded to Crocodoc each month, whether documents are hosted on their servers or elsewhere, and whether or not the viewer is co-branded.

The folks at Crocodoc tell me that they are out to replace Adobe Acrobat as the preferred way to display, view and mark up highly-formatted documents, and today’s enhancements are just the first step. It will be interesting to see how the service develops.

Have you used Crocodoc? How do you collaborate on document production and editing?

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I realize you can open a PDF, drag another PDF into the Preview window, and combine in that fashion, but in my experience, there’ve been issues with cross-platform compatibility when using this method. I turned to Automator, and within a few minutes, had a pretty simple and effective way to solve the problem.

1. I decided to create a Service rather than a standalone application or workflow, so it would be accessible from anywhere I may end up in the Finder, at any time.



2. Since PDFs were my focus, I set the service to target them while browsing from the Finder. You can obviously play around with these settings to do different things, depending on your needs.



3. The first action to drag into the editor is the heavy lifter here, and is very clearly named: “Combine PDF Pages.” I’d prefer they append to one another rather than shuffle them together.



4. At this point, I thought I was done, but when I would run the Service against a couple of PDF files, I had no idea where the resulting file ended up. For some reason, it wasn’t in the clipboard, but rather, was in some non-accessible directory of OS X. So added the “Move Finder Items” command into the editor, and the result was just what I wanted.



5. Finally, select the files in the Finder, right click, and choose your newly-created Service from the Services submenu. The resulting PDF shows up as some gibberish file name, right on the desktop.

Automator is a flexible tool, and can be made to do so many of the random tasks that we find need for on a daily basis. Hopefully, this simple solution will kickstart the process of creating your own custom workflows, as well.

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All of these products are good at what they do, but they are either tied to a specific vendor, or don’t support Adobe’s widely-used system of copy protection for PDF and ePub files. These files are also sometimes called Adobe Content Server 4 (ACS4) documents.

For reading such books, the free Bluefire Reader for iPhone, iPad and iPad touch is now available. It has a simple interface that is attractive and easy to navigate. The app doesn’t have the wealth of options that Stanza does, but it does allow you to select font size, page turn animations, contrast, and black-on-white or white-on-black text (other color schemes, called themes, are coming). The app can operate in portrait or landscape mode, and it allows you to bookmark and copy text.

In order to read books using the Adobe copy-protection system, you can register the app using your Adobe ID and password, a process that went very quickly and smoothly for me.

As the current version is a 1.0 release, Bluefire Reader is still missing some features. Notably, its system for actually acquiring books is pretty limited. The “Get Books” option offers access to the Feedbooks library of free original and public-domain books, but there isn’t yet a way to copy books from one’s desktop computer, or to access free or paid e-book libraries like Fictionwise or Mobipocket.

The developers told me that they are working on setting up access to other sources, including some of the systems used by public libraries. Here in Seattle, for example, our library system uses Overdrive Digital Library Reserve; other systems are used in other places. I gathered that the developers were rather surprised at how quickly their app was approved, and now seem to be working overtime to add the missing features.

It would certainly be nice if DRMed books fell out of fashion, just as copy-protected software (mostly) did. But until then, Bluefire Reader looks like it will be a good way to read them.

What e-reader do you use?

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